Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 8

A couple days ago, UPS brought me a package from my publisher. Inside were galleys of my new series (illustrated by Erin McGuire) called "Shelter Pet Squad."



Cookie, our rescue guinea pig gives it a big PAWS UP!



It comes out in hardcover and paperback on August 26th!

I did my last school visits for 2013-14 at the Salem Public Library in Salem, MA. Fourth graders (and a few third and fifth) were bussed from all over the city to the library to hear me speak on Rules, Touch Blue, and Half A Chance.



It was a wonderful visit in a beautiful and historic place.



My daughter came up to join me for the first night. We went out to supper and then on an evening tour of the city.



While there, I visited the Witch Trials Memorial and paid tribute to my ancestor, George Jacobs, who killed there at that time. There is a bench for each victim.



I brought some forget-me-nots from my yard at home to leave on his name.



I also visited the House of Seven Gables.



Salem is an interesting place! Here's a Harry Potter store.



It was a great last visit for this year!

Today on NPR:

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to summer, and that means the tantalizing prospect of having more time for reading stretches ahead of us — long, lazy summer days curled up with a book.

With that in mind, Newbery Award-winning author and National Ambassador for Children's Literature Kate DiCamillo shared some summer book recommendations for readers ages 8-13 with NPR's Melissa Block.

Kate DiCamillo's Picks For Summer Treehouse Reading

She included Half A Chance! If you miss the broadcast and want to hear her, the audio will be available tonight on the website.

Very exciting!!!

I had a fun time in Camden yesterday, signing at the Owl and Turtle Bookshop.



Camden is a lovely place right on the ocean in Maine.



Author Kate Egan and I had a such a nice group of people, including some wonderful friends who came!



Now, I'm down to two events before summer starts for me. I have a signing at Falmouth Elementary School in Maine from 6-7 pm at their Scholastic Book Fair, and then I have two days of school visits in Salem, Massachusetts!

After Salem, I have an editorial letter and revision waiting for me on my Summer 2015 novel, A Handful of Stars. Excited for all of it!

I'll be signing books today at Owl and Turtle Bookshop in Camden Maine at 3:30 pm.  Here's the line up for the day!

10:00 Chris Van Dusen (If I Built a Car, Circus Ship)
11:00 Sharon Creech (Walk Two Moons, The Great Unexpected)
12:00 Melissa Sweet (Firefly July, Balloons Over Broadway)
1:00 Vicki Doudera (Deal Killer, Final Settlement)
2:00 Liza Gardner Walsh (Fairy House & Fairy Garden Handbooks)
3:30 Cynthia Lord (Rules, Hot Rod Hamster)
4:00 Kate Egan (Vanishing Coin, The Incredible Twisting Arm)
4:30 Dave Morrison (Hot Tears of Shame, Stethoscope)

I received a message on Twitter saying Half A Chance has been nominated for its first kids' choice award--and it's the Sakura Medal for schools in Japan. So I went looking to see if loons are important in Japan and found this:

"Arctic and Red-throated loons were made national monuments in Japan because of their importance to Japanese fishermen of the Inland Sea. Fishermen use loons to guide them to lance, a small bait fish, which they net in great numbers (Austin and Kuroda 1953). If a loon is killed by being entangled in fishing nets, it is put in the bottom of the boat so as not to disturb other loons, and later is taken to shore where it is gently placed at a shrine."

Wow. As an author I do a lot of research into my book's own small world, but then when it's published, so many new things come back to me that open up *my* world.

HOW FUN! The Washington Missourian newspaper is doing a kids' photo scavenger hunt contest to go with their recent review of Half a Chance. The winner gets a new camera and runners up get autographed copies of the book. How absolutely, utterly awesome!

I bought a little toad house a few months ago. Today I was putting it out in the garden near the birdbath we have on the ground for the chipmunks and squirrels. My husband joked that it was a house for Hot Rod Hamster.

That seemed perfect, so I went and found a little hamster that author Linda Urban had given me a few years ago. I imagined Hot Rod Hamster at his house, waiting for Dog to come visit and have a new adventure. . . and a dog came!


Hot Rod Hamster was enjoying a beautiful day.


He looked down the path, hoping to see Dog coming to visit.


Hello, Dog!

Next Saturday afternoon, I'll be in beautiful Camden, Maine for the Owl and Turtle Bookshop's Grand Opening.

I'll be with author and editor Kate Egan at the Children's Book Cellar on Main Street in Waterville, Maine, reading books and signing from 10-12.